In earlier patent applications, this inventor has described a Facsimile-to-Electronic mail communication system (also referred to herein as a “fax-to-email system”) (and species embodiments thereof) whereby a facsimile transmission originating at a facsimile device is delivered to its recipient via electronic mail (such as through the “Internet”) rather than via another facsimile device. Those prior applications include U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/937,124, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,345, the specification and drawings of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference, and U.S. (PCT) application Ser. No. PCT/IB97/01455, filed Oct. 7, 1997, the specification and drawings of which are incorporated herein in their entirety and, also by pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/364,342, filed Jul. 30, 1999, and pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/235,566, filed Jan. 22, 1999, the specification and drawings of each of which are also incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference. The aforementioned documents are collectively referred to herein as the “Incorporated Documents.” The fax-to-email system of those earlier applications, as is generically taught by and understood by reference to the Incorporated Documents, is schematically represented in FIG. 1 hereof. The fax-to-email system 100 of FIG. 1 is shown as comprising sender-side fax and interface functions 99, a first communication network 98, a facsimile-to-e-mail server 104 (also referred to herein as the “FEM-GATEWAY 104”), a second communication network 97, and receiver-side e-mail handling functions 96. In the rapidly changing environment of communications, telecommunications, networking, and the Internet, the first communication network 98 and second communication network 97 may take on numerous and various forms while remaining acceptably within the scope of the Incorporated Documents. Various forms of these networks are those represented in the Incorporated Documents. The system comprises and the processes are facilitated by a software-based interface including, by way of example but not limitation, interfaces of the types described in the Incorporated Documents.
The sender-side fax and interface functions 99 comprise a facsimile function, typically in the form of a fax device such as a standard, stand-alone, hardcopy fax machine, or a general purpose computer outfitted with faxed software and a fax modem, or other specialty computer and software-based devices which output to a network in a format and protocol typically understood in the industry to be a fax format and fax protocol. The sender-side fax and interface functions 99 also include, in accordance with the system of the Incorporated Documents, an interface which provides the sender-side 99 with at least the functionality of initiating communication between the FEM-GATEWAY 104 and the sender-side functions 99 (thereby initiating a communication between a server at the FEW GATEWAY and the fax device (or fax function) of the sender-side), and accepting and transmitting via the first communication network a destination address associated with a destination along the second communication network. The interface is primarily software driven and utilizes necessary hardware (for example, input device, display device, CPU, memory, wiring, and chassis) either separate from or shared with the hardware of the facsimile function. In conjunction with at least one of the embodiments of the Incorporated Documents, the interface is almost totally software embodied and resident on computer memory within the fax device (e.g., combined fax and interface device). Sender-side fax and interface functions 99 include, but are not limited to exemplary embodiments shown in the Incorporated Documents, which various arrangements include “in-parallel” separate interface and fax device, integrated fax and interface functions within a single case, sharing hardware and representing a software embodied interface function, and “in-series” separate fax device and interface. (Refer to the Incorporated Documents).
The FEM-GATEWAY 104 receives a signal from and communicates with the interface function of the sender-side 99 via the first communication network 98, in accordance with a proprietary protocol, and receives from the sender-side fax function fax image data transported along the first communication network 98, in accordance with a fax protocol. The FEM-GATEWAY 104 receives an e-mail address and the fax image data from the sender-side functions 99, creates an e-mail message (including a “canned” text) addressed to the received e-mail address, attaches the fax as an attachment to the email message and sends the fax/e-mail message along the second communication network 97 to the received e-mail address using the protocol of the second network (for example, an email protocol). The fax (as an email attachment) is received at, for example, a mailbox from which the e-mail message with the attached fax image data may be reviewed or otherwise handled by an appropriate, authorized “receiver” using receiver-side functions 96. A detailed explanation and understanding of these processes is had by reference to the Incorporated Documents.
The sender-side functions of the system of the Incorporated Documents provide for both fax-to-email delivery and fax-to-fax delivery. The fax-to-email delivery, as mentioned above, comprises automatic initiating by the sender-side interface function 99 of communication along the first communication network 98 with the FEM-GATEWAY 104, transmission of the sender-entered email address to the gateway server using proprietary protocol, faxing of a document via a fax protocol to the gateway server, and transmitting the faxed document along the second communication network to the destination of the received email address using an email protocol. The fax-to-fax delivery comprises initiating by the sender-side (fax) function 99 communication with a sender-entered destination (for example, dialing the telephone entered by the sender at the sender-side functions) and communicating using a fax protocol with a fax device (or proxy system) 106r at the sender-entered address along the first communication network.